motherhood

Happy Mother’s Day. No, really….

May 11, 2013
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Yes, here it is. The Mother’s Day post. Now before you roll your eyes and click over to some other link, just hold on…. I will not be bombarding you with sappy stories of motherhood and heavily filtered “candid” shots of me kissing my kid through a sheer curtain. There will be no, “these are the lessons my mother taught me” huge revelations for you to get all teary about. And I promise not to bore you with a ridiculous list of household chores I wish someone else would take care of for one day. Nope, none of that here. What you are going to get is a dose of reality. It may be only MY reality, but I am putting it out there because I am not completely convinced that I am alone in this. Do you know what I really want for Mother’s Day? NOTHING. Absolutely nothing....

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How to be a proper “mommy blogger”.

May 1, 2013
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How to be a proper “mommy blogger”.

I have just finished watching all three first seasons of Downton Abbey. It took about three episodes of season one to hook me, but after that I was a goner. It really is a very well written, acted and produced show and I am looking forward to season 4. I was drawn to the show for a few different reasons. One, EVERYONE and their well-bred dogs kept going on and on about it and so I had to see what all the fuss was about. Two, I have a secret obsession with all kinds of historical dramas set in England (I am a quarter British BTW). I have seen the Elizabeth movies about five times each, I am a huge fan of The Tudors, and this just seemed to fit in with the whole genre. And three, my maternal grandmother (the British part of me) was a governess for...

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On motherhood: the ultimate vulnerability.

April 22, 2013
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On motherhood: the ultimate vulnerability.

I had coffee with a friend the other day. A pregnant friend who is in that “second-trimester, starting to feel uncomfortable in her own changing body, slightly grumpy about the restrictions it is placing on her” friend. We are relatively new friends (and yes, we did “meet” via social media), but our stories are quite similar. She could be me seven years ago. A woman in her mid-30′s with a burgeoning career, life experiences and accomplishments that she is proud of and someone who is pretty sure of who she is in this world. And she is afraid. Afraid of what becoming a mother means. Afraid of losing herself to this new role in her life. Afraid of following in the footsteps of the mothers in her life, who became wholly consumed by motherhood and whom she feels lost all of who they were before then. So I told...

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the ordinary life of a {closet} loner

April 2, 2013
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the ordinary life of a {closet} loner

This is what I love doing. I am sitting alone at one end of a dining room table that can easily sit 10-12 people. A cup of tea to my right and the Tar Beach Lullabies playlist from Songza playing on my iPad to my left and my sleeping pup at my feet (keeping them warm). The lights are mostly off and I am writing by the glow of my laptop and the still light dusk of a Northern Alberta spring night. Today, I took my children to a birthday party at one of those jumpy castle play place establishments that are all the rage these days. I knew most of the parents and kids at the party and while it was nice to visit with everyone, I felt this strange urge to escape from this social situation. I wanted to hightail it out of there and run off for...

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I love my twitter stream….

February 26, 2013
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Because I find hashtags like #MAKERSchat, that take me to the most inspiring, frustrating, idealistic, political and personal piece of television I have ever seen! I just spent the last 151 minutes watching Makers: Women who make America, and I highly recommend you watch it too. Download the video from iTunes, catch it again on PBS, find a friend who saved it on her PVR. Just watch it. It is our story, the story of women, the story that is not over… That my dears, is my silver lining for today (#16). Good night my sisters! Natasha~  

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this side of pro-choice

February 25, 2013
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***Trigger warning: The following post covers the topic of abortion. Please be aware of this while reading and sharing.*** ** It also comes with some book spoilers too.**  I am part of a book club. Really, who isn’t these days? We are a bunch of women from all walks of life that meet once every 6-8 weeks and drink wine and eat chocolate and cheese and yes, we even discuss books! This past week was Book Club Week and I was especially looking forward to it, because, 1) I really needed a night out and said wine and chocolate and 2) I actually finished this month’s book choice a whole week ahead of time. The book was Caitlin Moran’s half autobiography, half feminist manifesto, “How to be a Woman”. And if you haven’t read it already, then I highly recommend you get yourself in the queue for the e-book...

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Lose your mommy buts

November 5, 2012
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Lose your mommy buts

This post has been brewing in my head for a few days now and I finally have some time to get it onto the screen. Last week I read this post from Rachel Martin at Finding Joy. In it, she talks about why it is OK to take a mom break. You run on empty. I run on empty. It’s the nature of our society to push everything until the last drop – and then we are beyond worn out. We wait to get gas till the light warns us that the tank is empty, we save the last drops of milk, we scrape the peanut butter from the sides of the jar – and we do the same with our self. We push, and give, and push, and give, and we often ignore the warning lights telling us to refuel. And then shortly after I posted her link...

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I am the Tony Stark of parenting!

October 16, 2012
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I am the Tony Stark of parenting!

I am a goddamn parenting genius! . . . . OK, fine. Slight exaggeration. Maybe I just exude parental confidence. {While inwardly I am pulling my hair out strand by strand and sitting in a corner holding myself and rocking back and forth.} Whatever the case may be, people ask me for advice all the time. It ranges from prenatal questions all the way to potty training and back again. And for the record, I am definitely not an expert in any of these things by any conventional definition. What I am is a mama. I have almost 6 years of seniority in this position and according to a recent personality test I took (more on that in a later post) I have an above average amount of behavioural adaptability. Which I think is just fancy talk for I just know how to go with the flow! I also...

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Moments…

October 14, 2012
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Being a mom is the most amazing job/vocation/calling/responsibility/LIFE in the entire world. Except when it isn’t. And then you just want to crawl into a hole or if you happen to be having a particularly awful mama moment in public, have the ground open and swallow  you up, right then and there! BUT… Then you read something that makes you sit up and think, THAT! That is the kind of mom, no… correction, the kind of PERSON, that I want to be. All the time. Every day. Earlier tonight I read a note on my friend Stefani’s Facebook page and with her permission, I am posting it here. To the parents of the autistic girl in the party store: Hi. It’s okay. No, really; it’s okay. I know your daughter swatted my baby, who was sleeping in my sling, but I’m not mad. Babies are fascinating. They’re people, but tiny....

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not breathing

September 27, 2012
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Today, in my rush to get the kids to school, I almost killed two of us. Turning left onto a street, I didn’t see the white camaro coming up behind another truck turning right and I almost pulled out too far. I slammed on the brakes. I swore. I scared my daughter. And my heart almost pounded itself out of my chest. I was driving too fast, in too much of a rush, mad at the world, and all because *I* was late. I am calm now. I am sitting in my little cafe, having my favourite tea latte, re-evaluating my mornings lately and gaining a little bit of perspective. Here is what I think…. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I am trying to DO too much. I think this may be a MOM thing. My ‘TO DO” lists never seem to get fully finished....

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